Cons of Virtual Universities

The Cons of Virtual Universities
By Ian Bourgoine

Despite the hype, virtual universities are not the panacea they were supposed to be for higher education.  The University of Phoenix recently laid off 900 employees due to a significant drop in enrollment. Corinthian College, which had a significant online program, closed the same year. (Gillespie, 2015).  Even Southern New Hampshire University, which is doing well in terms of enrollment, boasts a 50% graduation rate within six (6) years (Kahn, 2015). Unfortunately, virtual academic programs, for all their promise, are just not effective springboards for non-traditional students to break into the middle class.

Virtual universities were created in the mid-1990s to help expand educational access to non-traditional students who could not attend college campuses due largely to regular work schedules (Epper & Garn 2004).  The experiment did not go well. Virtual universities forgot about the importance of business plans. The technology was not good. The projected investment models were wrong. And the faculty was not ready (Oblinger & Hawkins 2005).

Springboard to 2017, and the virtual university situation is not much better. As Pollack and Cornford (2000) observed in their UK study, “…the actual model of a virtual university…works well in theory but not in practice” (para. 3).  And the problems with virtual universities go deeper than simply the financial woes of its institutions. There are several core issues with online instruction:

·         Student-learner isolation; and

·         Student-learner confusion and frustration; and

·         Higher student attrition rates; and

·         Lack of basic skill building, including writing skills

(Smart &  Cappel 2006, page 203).  Another, more in-depth study found even more problems with virtual universities:

·         Failure at teaching practical skills; and

·         Lack of rapid feedback; and

·         Expectations from students are often not clear; and

·         Lack of attention to the needs of specific students; and

·         Virtual interaction does not reflect reality; and

(Ashrafzadeh 2010, p. 34).  Given these foundational problems, it is hard to believe the larger financial problems of virtual universities will improve anytime soon. And what is worse for virtual universities is that these foundation problems do not appear to be susceptible to correction through improved technology, finances, or faculty training. Virtual universities, by their very nature, are “prone to failure” (Pollack & Cornford 2000). 

When institutions are able to successfully operate a virtual university or at least a large core of online courses, it is often because the learning process has been standardized to such an extent that many important aspects of teaching and learning are lost (Pollack & Cornford 2000).

Thus, when we think of the success of the University of Southern New Hampshire, for example, we also should think about how the institution labels its students “customers” and standardizes its online courses to such an extent that it squeezes the spontaneity and creativity out of the learning process. With these issues in mind, it is hard to call Southern New Hampshire an academic success because it throws out important aspects of learning in order to keep its customer-count high and its accounts full. Accordingly, Southern New Hampshire is a successful business, not a successful online academic institution.

                                                             Reference List

Ashrafzadeh, A., (2010). The virtual university: pros and cons. 2010 International Conference on Online Learning and Education. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue24/virtual-universities 

Epper, Rhonda A., Garn, Myke (2004). The virtual university in america. Educause Center for Applied Research: Research Bulletin. https://library.educause.edu/~/media/files/library/2004/1/erb0402-pdf.pdf

Oblinger, Diana, & Hawkins, Brian (2005). The myth about e-learning. Educause Review. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2005/1/the-myth-about-elearning

Smart, Karl L., & Capel, James J. (2006). Student perceptions on online learning. Journal of            Information Technology Education.  http://www.jite.informingscience.org/documents/Vol5/v5p201-219Smart54.pdf                                               pdf